Back to School for the kids and Clara Luna.
More English classes were added with the help of Daniel and Alice, a newly
arrived volunteer from England. Daniel also had the good luck to teach the
police of Puerto Lopez for part of the month. Sadly, I don’t think he got to
drive their sweet police dune buggy. Helen, Rachel, and Mollie continued work
with the Foundation.
The
first week at Club de Ninos read the Three Little Pigs and tried their hand at
house construction. In small groups, the kids used toothpicks and marshmallows
to build the tallest structure that would withstand the huff and puff from the
Big Bad Wolf. Some were just interested in creating the largest marshmallow
blob! In the end, all of the structures withstood the test and they could be
dismantled for devouring. That week was also just before Mother’s Day. We read
‘Eres tu mama?’ and everyone created a card for their mother. Inside the card
was their mother’s name as an adjective acrostic poem, describing all the
amazing things about their mami.
Week
2 theme was Teamwork and Cooperation. Disappointingly, the house could not
think of a great children’s book that highlights these themes. If anyone knows
one send it to Clara Luna please! Instead we focused on activities that need
all the kids to work together. Like an office work retreat, we did trust falls,
three legged races (particularly amusing – one pair could not figure out the running
with three legs and instead crawled the entire race), and partner water balloon
tosses. Two of the more successful activities were the human knot (http://leadership.uoregon.edu/resources/exercises_tips/team_builders/human_knot),
and all aboard (http://www.wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/AllAboard.html).
Both were highly entertaining for the volunteers and the kids!
The
month finished off at Club de Ninos with Healthy Habits and Sharing themes. The
kids learned the importance of healthy eating and exercise. The volunteers
first disgusted them by showing them how the digestion system works (http://home.gwu.edu/~olacey/Digestive%20Experiments.htm)
and then got to be drill sergeants on the beach as the kids demonstrated their
brute strength. One of the kids could evendo more than 5 push-ups! The kids had
fun learning new exercises but I think they enjoyed getting dirty on the beach
more. For the Sharing week, we read ‘The Rainbow Fish’. Everyone designed their
own personal scale to add to a big Clara Luna fish. The kids used their sharing
and teamwork skills to work through a cryptogram scavenger hunt.
